The life of disorganized me.

I feel so disorganized and I honestly don't know where to begin. Yuck. Everything seems to have been in shambles for a few weeks now, and I will take the 4 day weekend up ahead of me to get it all back in order. That is what I will do.

Aside from all of the disorganization, I have taken on a new project, a scrapbook for my friend's daughter. This is a very special project, it is of the friend(also my best friend's husband) of mine who was killed last month. She gave me a rather large pile of pictures and bits and pieces of events that they attended. I have to make it so extra special, its really going to be something that she will look at when she is older and remember her dad by. And this is another reason why I have to get things in order, I have so much new product not getting used, its about time I use it up and make room. So that's that.


My passion for paper is overwhelming me at the moment. I have had collage on the brain. It might just be because of this artist I found recently, Glen Fischer.

"Ok"

"39 and holding"


"visions"

And I can go on and on showing you his work. So just go check it out yourself:)

Friday I love you.

Here and there I wind up watching a few children in the building that I work in(ones aside from the child I watch every day) Most of the families living in that building happen to do alot of design work, whether it be architecture or advertising, so they happen to have alot of great books to browse. A few years back when I worked at a small shop out on eastern Long Island(lots of eastern Long Island references tonight, google it, haha) We used to sell alot of unusual, design pleasing pieces. One in particular were this light bulb coverings by a designer named Tord Boontje, they were like a garland of intricate flowers cut from metal. These light coverings were inspired by a permanent collection at the MoMa(museum of modern art) I loved them, however I really could not spend the $75 dollars to buy one, and living where I was living was just an invitation for it to get destroyed(party house)


Well recently while babysitting up at the neighbors, I came across a whole book on TordBoontje's work and it was so very inspiring, so beautiful, so unique, I can go on and on explaining it. It was drool worthy.

The pictures of his studio..................amazing.

I am asking for this book for Christmas(you hear that Will)

Its a pretty big book, lots of texture and feel to it. It makes me want to go crazy with paper and scissors. Just gorgeous. I just love this designer. So very creative, love, love, love. Well thats it! Happy Friday:)

On an ATC roll.

Well after participating in one ATC swap, I am ready for more. So I have signed up to do two more, a Halloween one and a Kawaii one. I have finished the Halloween ones, and tonight I will be working on the Kawaii ones, I have to get a move on.


For the Halloween ones I used glitter, once again:) hehe. I am evil, I know it. This time of course it was black glitter, even better. I was at the Portrait Bug last Tuesday having a meet up with a friend of mine and I came across a pack of Martha Stewart's glitter that I just had to have. It had all of these really nice darker color glitters in it, perfect for the Halloween ATC's. What a mess!!

Anywho, in these ones I used some Stampin Up Halloween paper(my friend that I was with is a Stampin Up rep and she had them with her) I have never really heard of Stampin up before her, I am sort of finicky with paper, maybe snobby?? Yikes, but these papers were pretty cool.

Not so great photos, the sunlight is not around.

You cant see the black glitter or the really fun black glittery Halloween stickers. I bought them last year just because I liked them, but never used them. I was happy when I cam across them, time to use them. They also have some black grosgrain ribbon on the side, gesso with some Adorn it letters on them. Not to shabby.

Also, I wanted to share a picture of the ones I recieved from the Glitter ATC swap, all fun ones of course.

From top left to bottom right: 1) Ally Sarrato "Rawr"(the ATC swap organixer) 2) Sarah "Egg" 3) Danielle "Peacock Feather" (what up Mehico?) 4) Becca "Glittery Flower" 5) Nely "Dream"
6) Gina "Sparkle" 7) Heidi "Rainbow unicorn" 8) Stephanie "Pandas" 9) Heather "Sparkly sweet" (Love ya Heava) 10) Michelle "Rubber Duckie" 11) Jessica "Sweet"

Looking forward to many more swaps:)

The push I needed.

This weekend was the online SIS event, which I wish I had participated in more then I did, but I did what I could:) I played along in three challenges, and here they are:

This one was for "So you think you can Scrap" Jeannie's challenge. My category was "Artsy Fartsy" which meant I had to use paint, glimmer mist(you really cant see it) only one patterned paper, and no Thickers, stickers, any letters except only if you use them as a mask(which is what I did with this layout) Oh and P.S this photo was actually taken by Mandi while at Sisiversary in Tenn this past June.

"Talk to me nerdy" was for Jen G's challenge "Pick a word". She made up these sheets of words in different fonts that you could print out and use on a layout. I thought that "Talk to me nerdy" was perfect for a picture of my boyfriend. There have been times I have Skyped people and they say "why are their G.I Joe's hanging up behind you?" Well you see my boyfriend collects comic books and action figures(help!!!!!!!!!!!!) So talk to me nerdy worked perfectly for him.

Oh man, I was so tempted to use Gesso and paint on this one, but I didn't. This one was for Jen G's "Rock, Paper, Scissors" challenge. You were to use any junk mail including newspapers, catalog, magazines, etc. I used a catalog and newspaper clippings. I had alot of fun with this because I have not done a collage like this probably since High School!!! That's 11 years ago. I think I may have to make some more.

I had a good time joining in on some of the festivities, although I did miss the Cyber-oke on Friday!


So let's see. Ok, I need a Halloween costume idea. I am thinking something fun, something not to extreme so that I can wear it on the train(we will be going to a get together party of sorts in Queens). I was thinking about being Allison(pre makeover) from The Breakfast club.


I love her character soooooo very much.

I have been enjoying Jay Z's new album!! haha. I have not listened to rap in like a year. I sometimes add it on to my ipod, but only older school stuff, I am not into the whole new rap scene. Of course my favorite song is Empire State of Mind

*there is some explicit lyrics in this clip*




I have been enjoying the HBO series "Bored to death" with Jason Schwartzman. I happen to love it! I mean, come on, Jason is in it:)



You can get the first episode for free over on I tunes.

Ok, time to do something more with my day, I have ATC cards to finish and I am jumping on the band wagon with Mad men. My boss let me borrow the first season.

Chicago and other past week happenings.

Well, last weekend I spent 3 fun filled days with 3 very fun ladies(and one very nice gentlemen who let us stay at his place) We drank margaritas(mine were blue) attended the Chicago Renegade Craft Fair where we met up with Martha and Sarah, had deep dish pizza, and spent alot of time out on the balcony just enjoying the night time city sky line, oh and of course we had a lot of laughs. Originally it was suppose to be Jen, Danielle, Mandi, Vanessa, Sandy and me, however Vanessa and Sandy could not attend so we Skyped them(we missed out on Skyping Heather:( Skype started to get skittish) I look forward to the next time we can all get together again, I really enjoy the time spent with all of them. I am very grateful that I have been able to meet such great people through scrap booking, its just so very cool.

Lots more photos here.

Last night we celebrated Will's friend's birthday. We all met up at this great Indian restaurant down on 1st ave in the East Village. When I tell you that this place was tiny, I am talking really really tiny, but a total blast. It was completely decked out in Christmas lights, tinsel decorations, mirrors, crazy things hanging from the ceiling. The food was great and really cheap for NYC. The only down side was that there was hardly any room and they sort of rush you out to get the next customer in. So its almost like a whirlwind when you get in there. After dinner we all headed on over a few blocks to the Burp Castle where we sucked down several goblets of Delirium and had funny conversation out on the front patio. I enjoyed myself, except for the part when we missed our train and were stranded in Penn station until 4 am. The thing about the Long Island Rail road is that it stops running so much after say 1 am, and on the weekends its usually has lots of young people who are highly intoxicated and loud on the train. Does not make for a great trip home after sitting on a hard train station floor for 3 hours. But we made it home and slept until 1 pm today. I feel like I have so much to blog about but I am really drawing a blank. I guess for now I will just call it a post! Have a great weekend.

The city I love.

I remember finally coming back to the Island about 3 days after 9/11 and driving over the Throgs Neck bridge and looking out onto a city that I hold true to my heart. It was full of smoke, it reminded me of a war torn city. Traffic of course was bumper to bumper and we all just sat there and stared, could this have really happened? I am glad to say that the city I love still thrives, but I am also glad to say that it never ever forgets. And when I am on the train on my way into work and I catch a glimpse of the city skyline from the window, I cant help but feel a little empty not seeing those two towers standing up against all of the other buildings that make Manhattan one of the most amazing places in the world to me at least. All of those lost, all of those who struggle everyday with the memories of such a tragic day, you are in my thoughts today as well as everyday as I look onto the NYC skyline and remember.

A day at Coney Island

Being a New Yorker and never have gone to Coney Island was just so wrong of me, what was I thinking?? Growing up with a mom born and raised in Brooklyn, I always heard stories of Coney Island, back in its glory day when it was safer, cleaner, and the Parachute jump was still open. There was always the mention of how great the hot dogs were at Nathans, how the beer was so cheap, and the rides, oh the rides:) I finally made it there this past Labor Day weekend, and even though it was so muggy and hot out, we still had fun, sweat and all.

Me and Will ventured over to Coney Island to meet up with some friend's, when we got out of the subway we couldn't find them and after a quick call and no answer we decided to find somewhere to sit. A brief glance up at the skyline and there was a sign that said "Beer Island" and well it was calling us over to it. We eventually found our friends, and from there we went and rode the bumper cars, the Wonder Wheel and eventually The Cyclone. On the Wonder Wheel you can either choose the cab that swings or one that sits still, we of course went for some action!!!


(view from the Wonder Wheel)

Our final stop was Nathans where we had some Coney Island fare, hot dogs and fries, and a few of their gigantic cups of beer(slightly watered down I must add).




After we ate we made one quick stop to the old photo booth where me and Will took some pictures, we tried to do a second round but the machine seemed to not be working. We walked away with a strip of 4, good enough.




I think the best part of the day was riding the Cyclone and then calling my mom to tell her what I had just done, she was so happy to hear that I took a ride on the same roller coaster that she used to ride when she was young, it was pretty cute. If you ever make it to Coney Island, be sure to ride the Cyclone at least once, you will be scared at first but you wont regret it. Its one of the oldest roller coasters in the States. Built in 1918 and opened in 1920, its pretty bumpy because it is a wooden roller coaster, but for those thrill seekers, its pretty well worth it.





Before we really headed on out, we hung out on the boardwalk and just chatted. A nice day to end the summer season,



I have alot more pictures I took of Coney Island over on my flickr. Feel free to go look:)


In about 3 more days, I will be flying on over to Chicago where I will be meeting up with and spending the weekend with Danielle, Vanessa, Mandi, and Jen(I will miss you Sandy!!!!!!) Its gonna be a great weekend, we will be heading over to the Chicago Renengade Fair

and then just hanging out the rest of the weekend.
So I will be back probably when the weekend is over with some pictures of that trip.
Hope all is well with everyone!! Have a great rest of the week.

Glitter glitter everywhere.

My boyfriend would like to thank a Miss Danielle for choosing glitter as a theme for the ATC swap I participated in. I am sure he will spend the better half of the day tomorrow trying to vacuum most of it up , he also told me my pants looked like they belonged to Liberachi.
After I was done working on my cards, I thought it only fun to wipe all of the glitter off of my art desk and watch it flutter in the air and land everywhere(sometimes I can be very childish, this I will admit) I find it amusing, except for the part where I got it in my eye. As you can tell I hardly ever use glitter because I am rather messy with it. As a kid growing up we weren't even allow to play with Play-doh in fear that we would get it mashed into the carpet. Well as a grown up now, I happen to have a few containers of Play-doh and a growing collection of numerous messy, crafty items that I can use freely. And that's that.

Ok, ok, enough of my glitter explosion, this is about my first ever ATC swap. I did it, I pulled it off. I am so lame with deadlines, but I made myself sit down and just do it.


There you have it, now I just have to stop myself from procrastinating to send them out. I do live next to the post office by the way. Man oh man:)

Well its getting late, I have more to blog about but I really must be off to bed.
Tomorrow is Friday, but it will be a long Friday for me.
Saturday will be a day spent at Coney Island with some friends, this I am looking forward to oh so much. Cyclone and Nathans here I come.

Night!!!!